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New custom build system. 60+ clean installs. Always random BSODs.
First of all I must apologize about my limited English. I'll try to do my best to explain my situation because I really need help. I usually prefer to look for solutions by myself, because I think it's a good way to learn, but this time is different: after hours reading posts and more posts I can't get rid of BSODs and I'm going mad.
I decided it was time to buil a new system and use the old one as an HTPC, so I bought all the parts three weeks ago and started. I always build my custom PCs, so I never imagined that this was going to be my worst nightmare. All the parts were brand new.
I started with a different graphics card instead of the one below: it was a XFX HD5670 1024Mb Heatpipe, new too. I wanted to use the 1TB HDDs together in a RAID 1 for my pictures, music and documents, and the 500 GB one only for OS, programs, downloads...
The first thing I did was to upgrade the BIOS to the last version (F6) from the motherboard manufacturer's site. Then I entered BIOS setup and enabled RAID for the SATA3 0/1/2/3 connectors of the AMD SB850 controller (1TB HDDs were connected to ports 0 and 2, and the 500GB HDD to port 5. My 2 optical drives were connected to the Gigabyte SATA controller ports). After save and reboot, I entered the RAID BIOS Setup utility and built the array. A new reboot and I started installing Windows from the DVD (it is an original retail DVD).
Once the OS was installed, I began to install some drivers (chipset, USB 3, LAN, Audio). All of them were the last version I found in Gigabyte's site. The last driver I installed was the GPU and it was the last version (11.2) of the Catalyst Software Suite from AMD's site. After the reboot I started with Windows Updates. First pack was about 60+ different updates, so I let the pc download and install them and in some moment of that process I had my first BSOD. I don't know if it was in the download or in the install process (in the second one I suppose).
Since then, there have been lots of BSODs in my screen. They seem to be totally random, because I can't find a common root for them. Sometimes they appear installing updates. Other times only when I am doing nothing, or only reading forums. I have made lots of new clean installs of Windows 7, and I think I have tried all the possible combinations with hardware, BIOS setups and hardware tests. Even I ordered a new motherboard (the same model) and graphics card (the one listed below), but I always end having a BSODs just some minutes/hours after the clean installation of the OS.
The BSODs are always different. I never have 2 with the same message one after the other. I donīt have all the dumps because if I get a copule of them I change something in my configuration and start again with a new clean install. I took some notes of the first screens, before I realized that they were very different: atikmdag.sys, nvlddkm.sys, ntfs.sys, dxgkrnl.sys, win32k.sys, luafv.sys, fltmgr.sys, SYSTEM_SERVICE_EXCEPTION, INTERRUPT_EXCEPTION_NOT_HANDLED, CACHE_MANAGER... and more, some of them with no message or file, and other I didn't annotate.
I'll try to explain some of the combinations and tests I have made and my last option:
I have tried 3 graphics cards: the 2 new ATI and one old nvidia 9400GT I have running in another PC. The 3 of them in both motherboards.
I have run memtest86+ for hours (a good excuse to go to sleep for a while), with all the RAM units at the same time, with only one stick at a time, with only one stick in the 4 different slots... and all the tests with no errors.
I have installed the Windows Updates before the drivers and after the drivers (and perhaps in the middle too, I don't remember)
I have installed the ATI driver from the device manager manually, unpacking the ATI display driver, without installing all the Catalyst software.
I have connected the OS HDD to the GSATA ports, and the 1TB HDDs too, bulding the RAID with the Gigabyte SATA controller (I have made all the possible combinations with the HDDs, I'm almost sure).
I have used the "auto" configuration in BIOS for RAM, and also the manual settings with the manufacturer's recomendation about timing and voltage.
And I'm sure I'm forgetting more combinations that I have made in the last 2 weeks.
Today I have made my last attemp: BIOS default settings. All SATA ports in IDE mode. Only the OS HDD connected (and the optical drives). I have installed Windows 7, then the drivers except for the graphics card, then the updates and finally the graphics drivers. This time seemed to go better but, after installing some software (firefox, flash player, java...) and when I was just searching for more software to install, a new BSOD.
I'm totally devastated, wasting all my time with no success. I don't know what can I do with this: it seems that the motherboard is right (or I have 2 twin new motherboards working wrong), the graphics cards too (the three of them work in another system), the RAM too (I can't test it in other PC but it has passed all the tests), the HDD too (I have only made 2 or 3 CHKDSK /r and SeaTools basic/short tests showing no problem, but perhaps it is not enough to check the HDD).
There is a couple of things I have not tested yet: the PSU and the CPU. I'm not sure how I can check if the PSU is working correctly and I have more or less the same problem with the CPU. I'm very discouraged right now because the BSODs are so random that they don't lead me to any kind of common root cause; i.e. my last "known" BSOD was while using the Windows 7 SP1 Disk Cleanup Tool. Just after rebooting from that, 2 atikmdag.sys BSODs, one after the other. And a couple of hours later, while writing this post, the last one (also referring to atikmdag.sys but I'm not sure if I can trust in this information).
I attach all the information I have found (the dumps are only since my last clean installation yesterday) but I'll do my best to contribute with more tests or anything you can suggest me because I really don't know what else I can do. I'm starting to think about selling/RMAing all these new items and going with a new system (different motherboard/chipset, CPU, VGA, etc.)
Thanks a lot in advance and sorry again for my poor English.
Attached files:System specs:Custom Build
Windows 7 Ultimate N x64 (Retail DVD)
AMD Phenom II X6 1090T
Gigabyte GA-890FXA-UD5 Rev. 2.1
4x 2Gb GEIL UltraPlus DDR3 PC3 10660 1333MHz CL6-6-6-24 1.6v
Sapphire Radeon HD5770 Vapor-X OC
Onboard Realtek HD Audio Device
1x WD Caviar Black 500Gb SATA3 7200 RPM 32Mb Cache (WD5002AALX)
2x WD RE4 1Tb SATA2 7200 RPM 64Mb Cache (WD1003FBYX)
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